While much has changed over the past year, one thing that hasn’t changed is social media experts encouraging their clients and students to use the ‘Go Live!’ function on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. 

As per Hootsuite, “Social media live streaming is dynamic, authentic and engaging. And you don’t need any special equipment to tap into the world of self-broadcasting.” 

It seems simple enough. You pick up your phone, point it at yourself and press ‘go live’ to broadcast to your audience. But when you’re planning a live video for your business, it’s best to go into it with a plan of action. 

Here are 3 things to keep in mind when planning your next live broadcast: 

Your audience will get an alert

When you hit the live button your fans/followers will get a notification that says “ ____ is going live” and you can click instantly to see what that account is saying in real-time. That does NOT happen every time you add a regular post to your feed. By going Live you are adding urgency and saying “this content is happening right now for a limited time” and oftentimes many will click to see what is happening.  

Hootsuite tells us that 80% of audiences would actually rather watch a Livestream than read a blog post, listen to a podcast or read an article. 

Knowing this, you can plan to share your latest content as a Livestream, bringing more immediate attention to your website and your offerings. Plan to go live after your blog post launches and use your broadcast to share the summary of your post. 

Ideas for attention-grabbing content: 

1. Promote an upcoming event

2. Announce a giveaway

3. Breaking news in your company/industry

4. Host an Ask me Anything session

Plan to build authentic connections

You can choose to save your live videos afterwards (recommended) or go Live and then delete the video when you’re done. 

This gives you an opportunity to get vulnerable with your audience in a way that you can control after the fact. You can’t edit on the fly when the broadcast is Live—so your interactions are perceived as more authentic—but you can choose to use the video afterwards or not. 

So plan your content with this in mind. Sometimes you might want to come online for an exclusive piece of content like sharing a glimpse of behind the scenes on your day or sharing a personal outing with your family. 

More often you’ll be saving your videos to reuse on your feed, but make a plan to be vulnerable with your audience whenever you can. 

Ideas for being authentic: 

1. Give a tour of your business or Behind the Scenes

2. Introduce yourself

3. Debunk a myth about your industry

4. Talk about your favourite podcast or blogger

5. Share what inspires you

6.  Do a book review

Note: If you’re wondering ‘couldn’t something go wrong with sharing personal content?’ and the answer is yes. Live broadcasting is as unplanned as it gets so things can go wrong, but your audience will feel connected with you by seeing how you recover from whatever snafu might come up. 

Make it a conversation with live feedback

Going Live on social media is similar to hosting a live event. Conversations and feedback happen in real-time as you balance the content you’re sharing with interacting with the audience asking questions and reacting in the comments. 

If you’re nervous about the Live aspect of it, you can have a friend or teammate log into the live event to moderate comments and interact with your audience for you as well. 

Along with the fun and motivating content you can do in live videos, it’s also a great time to promote your product or service and get live feedback on what your audience thinks. 

Ideas for conversations: 

1. Review a product you use

2. Do a demo of a product you sell

3.  Do a How to Tutorial

4.  Share your top tips

5. Talk about an industry trend

Engage with your audience in the moment

The whole reason you’re doing a live video is to connect with your followers right? So make sure they know that you want them to participate in your Live.  Say HI to followers, welcome new viewers who are just joining and answer questions on the fly if you can. 

Have fun, be yourself, let your fans get to know the real you! And yes I promise it gets easier the more often you do it. So this week HIT THE LIVE button! Feel free to tag me in it or let me know you are planning to hit the live button.

Not sure what equipment you need to go live or to up your social media marketing in 2021? This post can help you out.